Pan African Film and Arts Festival Los Angeles to hold February 9

Danny Glover (L) and Mel Gibson arrive at The Academy Celebrates Filmmaker Richard Donner at Samuel Goldwyn Theater on Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Joshua Blanchard/Getty Images)

Organisers of Pan African Film and Arts Festival (PAFF) have announced the dates for the event’s 31st edition. The PAFF will hold during Black History Month (BHM) in Los Angeles, between February 9 and 20, 2023. The 12-day long festival, which is usually attended by black creatives, executives and Black culture enthusiasts, is regarded as the largest Black History Month celebration in America.

To be held under the theme ‘Reimagine PAFF’, screenings for the festival, which the founders and directors Ayuko Babu, Danny Glover and Ja’Net Dubo envisioned will be a global celebration to honour the genesis of imagination — the African story will hold at the Cinemark Baldwin Hills and XD Theatre, while the black fine arts festival returns to the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza. Pan African Film Festival (PAFF) is a non-profit corporation in Los Angeles, California.

It is America’s largest and most prestigious Black film festival. Each year, it screens more than 150 films made by and/or about people of African descent from around the world. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) has designated PAFF as an official qualifying film festival for live action and animation short films.

PAFF states its goal is to promote “cultural understanding among peoples of African descent” through exhibiting art and film. It hosts a film festival and an arts festival in Los Angeles in February of each year.